June 2008

06/30/2008

There's a gut-wrenching story out of Virden, Man. today about two cyclists who were killed Sunday when a car plowed into a group of four riders on the Trans-Canada Highway.

Daniel Hurtubise, 50, was riding cross-country to raise money and awareness for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He had told friends and family that this was going to be the ride of a lifetime. He died after being hit from behind by a car west of Winnipeg. Also dead is a friend, from Kelowna, B.C. whose name has not yet been released. Hurtubise's 19-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter, who were riding along with their dad, were injured.

Cross-country cycle trips are almost a given every summer in this
country. It should not be unexpected to see cyclists on this roadway. How can it happen that this group of four were not given the space they needed on the highway? The Trans-Canada is a divided highway at this point, with two lanes going each direction. There is plenty of room to go around, and in fact, it is a requirement under law to give a lane to cyclists.

Here's a press release sent from the Huron County Ontario Provincial Police detachment, regarding a bicycle accident in Clinton last Friday. You might share it with your friends who have cycling children...

On June 27, 2008
at approximately 1:00 pm, two brothers were out riding their bikes. The
older brother did not have on a helmet but the younger one did. They
rode out of the park on Ontario Street behind the Town Office, between
some parked cars and vehicles that were stopped for a red light at
Albert Street and into traffic. What were they thinking? Unfortunately,
a 16 year old student driver, who was taking a driving lesson with his
instructor, happened to be travelling east on Ontario Street at the
same time and struck the 12 year old. The 12 year old suffered minor
injuries to both legs. He was taken to the Clinton Hospital as a
precaution. At the hospital, the doctor told the youth that he would
have had serious head injuries if he had not been wearing his helmet.
The student driver, who was traumatized by the event, will not be
charged. The older brother was witnessed the following day wearing a
helmet. Obviously a lesson was learned. Let’s all try to learn a lesson
without someone getting hurt. Protect your melon!!

06/27/2008

When I got the long distance call from someone who said he was affiliated with Bicycling magazine, and he wanted to ask my opinions about the magazine, I just assumed it was a product survey and launched into a detailed observation of my nearly 30 years of reading Bicycling, the various changes of format and my views of the success of the current iteration.

Pretty solid critique, I thought.

The guy on the other end was silent for a while, and said that he would pass along my praise and criticism, and since I was such a dedicated cyclist, perhaps he could share with me the details of a new book being offered exclusively and with no obligation to regular subscribers of Bicycling magazine.

Oh.

Sure, send me the book. And, are you really going to pass along my observations, or should I just write a letter. "Oh, it's always a good idea to write that letter," he said.

06/25/2008

The Ontario government has taken another baby step toward improved bicycle infrastructure, as a part of an accelerated approval process for transit improvements.

Today, the government announced a new environmental assessment process that smoothes the consultation process before building bike lanes (and bus lanes, light rail transit, etc.).

To start, agencies or governments seeking such projects don't have to justify such projects. The province accepts as a given that such projects are a good thing. Second, only issues of provincial importance (such as building a rail line through a provincial park) or those affecting Aboriginal rights can go to the Transportation Minister. And finally, there's a six-month cap on environmental assessments, to expedite the process.

Frankly, this is just an incremental move forward, but it is still a move forward, and for that, we are grateful.

My blogging peers will no doubt have great sport with the Canadian launch of BeautifulPeople.net.

It's an elite club where those who can give great face post their pictures and are rated by others members (who gets to be the first members, I wonder). Anyway, I thought that was what FaceBook was for. Apparently I misunderstood the intention of that social networking system.

The object of BeautifulPeople.net is to be an online meet market where the prime cuts can exchange relevant bio information (hmmm, FaceBook again) and eventually hook up.

Doncha think we should have a two-wheeler version? It could take the idea behind Here's My Bike! and ratchet it up a notch or two. Submit a photo of your bicycle and then the existing members of BeautifulBikes.net can vote on whether the bike is beautiful enough to play with the rest of the bicycles.

06/23/2008

Haven't had a moron of the week for a month, but this fresh-faced, smiling young woman from St. Mary's High School deserves the honour.

Today, about 8:30 a.m., you were riding on the sidewalk on Strasburg Road and cut through the gas bar parking lot to Block Line Road. Any reasonably logical person might have thought you were heading to the clearly marked bicycle lane on Block Line, but without an "Excuse me" or other loud warning, you headed directly at two grey-haired pedestrians who were walking side-by-side in the sidewalk, nearly clipping one who jumped back out of the way.

There's a bike lane for a reason. There was hardly any traffic on the road. The road surface is even smoother than the sidewalk. Why use the sidewalk?

06/21/2008

I thought the Ride With Lance did all right raising nearly $1.4 million last weekend for Grand River Hospital and Sunnybrook Hospital.

This weekend's Ride to Conquer Cancer, to benefit Princess Margaret Hospital, has exceeded that mark by 10 times.

Today, 2,850 riders from eight provinces and 16 U.S. states set out from the CNE grounds in Toronto on what the organizers are billing as the biggest bicycling fundraiser in Canada.

The total pledged: $14 million. That is an awesome achievement, and raises the bar for bicycle fundraising events across Canada. And it is pretty amazing to put 2,850 cyclists on the main roads and back roads of the Golden Horseshoe over two days.

The first 100 kilometres wraps up today at Mohawk College in Hamilton. Tomorrow, they head for Niagara Falls.

The ride is such a success that they have already set a date for next year: June 12-14.

You can pledge to this year's ride, or sign up for next year's online.

06/20/2008

Waterloo Region's participation in the Commuter Challenge (June 1 to June 7) has elements of sweet and sour.

Sweet: The region emerged as the top community in Ontario and second in its population category (500,000 to 999,999) in Canada for participation.

Sweet: The number of participants was up by about 400 from last year.

Sour: That still translates as only 2,283 people in our region who registered as having given up their car for at least one day to try walking, transit, bicycling or carpooling, to save 178,000 kilometres of single-passenger motoring. (Which, BTW, was about 50,000 kilograms of reduced emissions.)

Sour: Nationally, only 34,310 people participated. Even that small number of people accounted for more than three million klicks and a 484,000-kg reduction in emissions. How cleaner the air could have been if more than that tiny fraction had taken part.

Top participating organizations in the region included the Working Centre, where 94 per cent of the staff took part, and Project Ploughshares and the Township of Wellesley, where all staff took part. There's an article in today's paper that has more.

In fairness, both those three participants were in the 26-100 employees category (Working Centre) and the 25 and under bracket (Ploughshares and Wellesley). A special nod should go to the top three in the 501 and more employees bracket: WLU, with a 19.76 per cent rate, the City of Kitchener with 18.93 per cent and the City of Waterloo with 17.29 per cent.

These three accounted for hundreds of people who put their cars aside and considered other ways to get around. Kudos, kudos.

06/19/2008

Way back in early April, when I wrote about Rick Doktor and his participation in the first Ride to Conquer Cancer, the ride date of June 21 seemed like a long way in the future.And here it is, two days to go.A lot has happened since April. Doktor keeps raising the bar on his fundraising goal. He was aiming for $35,000, but has passed that and is on his way to $50,000. And a couple thousand riders have signed on to raise the minimum of $2,500, including 42 of them from Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge. That Doktor is No. 7 of the Top Ten fundraisers tells you that this event
is going to raise a pile of cash for cancer treatment and research.This will be an epic ride: 200 kilometres over two days, from the CNE grounds in Toronto to Mohawk College in Hamilton on Saturday, and then on to the Niagara Parkway near the Horseshoe Falls on Sunday. Canadian Olympian and cycling celebrity Steve Bauer will ride with the pack, and will lead an "afternoon afterburn" ride of 50K on Saturday after the main ride, for those who want to put some extra klicks on their bicycle computer, or use the extra distance as a fundraising tool.Whether you know a rider or just want to pledge to the ride, you can do so here.